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Topic Review (Newest First)

11-19-2012 09:08 AM

mr4speed

The truth with these type of situations is you are just going to lose no matter how you look at it.......

11-19-2012 08:51 AM

302 Z28

Quote:

Originally Posted by 69 widetrack

Now I treat it like a business and tell friends and family (especially family) if they want things to stay the way they are then this is my price...and I'm happy for them if they take it to someone else...if they do I ask to favors from them. Don't bring it to me to fix it if it's not done right by whom ever they took it to...and don't ask me to look it over when it's done.

This way they either shut up and pay or take it to someone else and I don't hear about it.

This reminds me of an incident that happened to me about 35 years ago. At the time I was working as a line mechanic at the local Chevrolet dealer. Most of you guys can remember the problem GM had with Quadra Jet carbs fuel bowl draining of gas over night making the car hard to start in the mornings. Well my sister in law had a 72 Monte Carlo with the problem and my dear wife volunteered my services to fix it. which I did by the traditional method of the form fitting foam plug in the main jet well and some epoxy on the main jet well plugs just like I had fixed all the other ones. I get a call the next morning from the sister in law about its still doing the same thing. I get the car back and pull the carb again expecting to find a dry float bowl which it was not. I keep the car over night and the next morning I get in the car and press the gas pedal down once and the car cranks and runs on high idle just like it supposed to. I return the car to sister in law and again get a call the next morning about it being hard to start. By this time I am getting a little annoyed. I start quizzing the sister in law about her starting procedure only to find out she has been pumping the gas pedal furiously before and during cranking just like before the carb repair. I explain that is no longer necessary, just one pump on the gas pedal is enough. From that day forward my wife said that I will only work on my parents and her parents cars which was fine with me.

Vince

11-18-2012 01:14 PM

monster76

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr4speed

Yep.............this guy is a REAL winner. Gave him a cheap price to do the car, why i don't know. Then he wanted the door gaps fixed, bottom of the hood painted, and then cut and buffed. He later added in a new rug and dashpad, that he expected me to put in for him on top of everything else I mentioned. Oh yeah and expected the CHEAP price to stay the same. I finally had enough and told him to forget about the interior extras and should have given the car back unfinished. But I did finish all but the interior parts. The friend jobs just stay away from unless they understand what it will cost and are willing to pay for it. I have done cars for other friends that I had no problems with at all. You just never know...............

I learned young, well im young but I was even younger when i learned business and friends are like oil and water. I know how those jobs are I did a dump bed for my buddies nursery truck which was an old f700 I told him where to buy the materials with my account so he could get a discount and labor was free. After it was all said and done he loved the bed but he felt I screwed him because I should of just told to buy a used dump bed so he could of saved money. I told him if it was to much why didnt you look for a bed and just have me install it. There is no winning a client shops around and understand that if they don't want me to do it there is some one else who they can call

11-18-2012 01:00 PM

TexasT

Looks GREAT in the pix!

Sorry to hear you are having a difficult time with the owner. Time and materials with excellent record keeping is the only way to go IMO. That and I don't loan tools. Lost more than one friend/family member over their expectations of my discounted/free labor. I'll miss em(not really).

11-16-2012 07:13 PM

mud.man.rj

building cool cars.

You learn as you go, some projects are great, some just don't work out as good, just remember though, you built it, not them, so that is something special, always.

11-16-2012 05:04 PM

69 widetrack

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr4speed

Yep.............this guy is a REAL winner. Gave him a cheap price to do the car, why i don't know. Then he wanted the door gaps fixed, bottom of the hood painted, and then cut and buffed. He later added in a new rug and dashpad, that he expected me to put in for him on top of everything else I mentioned. Oh yeah and expected the CHEAP price to stay the same. I finally had enough and told him to forget about the interior extras and should have given the car back unfinished. But I did finish all but the interior parts. The friend jobs just stay away from unless they understand what it will cost and are willing to pay for it. I have done cars for other friends that I had no problems with at all. You just never know...............

Now I treat it like a business and tell friends and family (especially family) if they want things to stay the way they are then this is my price...and I'm happy for them if they take it to someone else...if they do I ask to favors from them. Don't bring it to me to fix it if it's not done right by whom ever they took it to...and don't ask me to look it over when it's done.

This way they either shut up and pay or take it to someone else and I don't hear about it.

11-16-2012 04:30 PM

mr4speed

Yep.............this guy is a REAL winner. Gave him a cheap price to do the car, why i don't know. Then he wanted the door gaps fixed, bottom of the hood painted, and then cut and buffed. He later added in a new rug and dashpad, that he expected me to put in for him on top of everything else I mentioned. Oh yeah and expected the CHEAP price to stay the same. I finally had enough and told him to forget about the interior extras and should have given the car back unfinished. But I did finish all but the interior parts. The friend jobs just stay away from unless they understand what it will cost and are willing to pay for it. I have done cars for other friends that I had no problems with at all. You just never know...............

11-15-2012 07:29 PM

mud.man.rj

painting and lowsy friends hmm.

I agree on the friend part, lost a few so called friends that way which was good less poorly paid work for me as for the car very nice and the color is a nice change from what most choose.

11-15-2012 06:58 PM

69 widetrack

Quote:

Originally Posted by LATECH

Very nice work. This guy obviously doesnt have a clue what it takes to get a nice finish product like this.
He needs an education on paint and body, it seems to me.
Prolly watches all the car shows where they build a car in an hour, but never turns the sound on to hear that 1200 man hours elapsed between start to finish.
30 guys x 40 hours ya know.You are 2 guys x 600 hours. What is that like 15 weeks straight?
Maybe you should list the time on paper so its more clear what he is paying for.

LATECH, I couldn't agree more..now I document every hour as to how long it took, why it took as long as it did and what problems would arise in the future if I hadn't done it the way I did.

I learned this very quickly when I did a paint job for a buddy who was down and out...the guy lived out of town, brought the car to me to do the work, I did it for cost for the friend and he went home and brought it to every Body Shop in his town whining about nothing and to see if, in his words, he got ripped off...The car looked good, he paid for material only and drove it for the next 8 years without a problem. I told myself then that I wouldn't allow this happen again.

11-15-2012 06:26 PM

mitmaks

There's all kinds of "friends" when they want you to weld something for them, paint, fabricate, etc. These kind of people are friends with benefits, stay away from them.

11-14-2012 11:51 PM

Bad Rat

Thats exactly the reason I don't build cars for ANYONE, anymore,, those know nothing guys are nothing but a PITA, they have NO clue , and expect excellence , for a dime,
I wouldn't release the car till he paid the bill,, YOUR BILL not his, friend or not,

11-11-2012 03:40 PM

John long

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr4speed

Novafreak, don't have any finished pics of this one.................the friend that I did this car for is really nit picking little things that he does not think should be there. We are talking about nonsense stuff that he never paid for any way. The lesson to be learned is never help out a FREIND that does not appreciate it in the first place. I did this one so cheap I am embarresed to say how much I charged to do a full paintjob, were talking skim every panel, block it all out and straighten out all door gaps that were really bad. Oh yeah then wet sand and buff the whole thing and reassemble everything. Tons of time on a pretty big car (lots of square footage). Then on top of it all I hired a friend of mine to help me finish it up just to get it done and gone. Paying this guy out of my pocket too boot. Now this FRIEND is saying he can't sell the car for a BIG profit because of these little things that are not up to his standards. Imagine that???

I hate what you are going through. When I retired The first time in 1991 I took in customer work for about 7 months. I quickly decided I could have a business or a hobby but would have to choose. I finally told my wife when the last car left my shop I was going to go find a job. That may be one of the best decisions I ever made. The '57 Olds financed the 36 roadster and one day the roadster will finance the next project. I smell a 52-56 Merc hardtop or convertible down the road. 1954 sounds good huh?

Keep up the good work and don't let someone else's ignorance get you down.

John L

11-11-2012 01:45 PM

LATECH

Very nice work. This guy obviously doesnt have a clue what it takes to get a nice finish product like this.
He needs an education on paint and body, it seems to me.
Prolly watches all the car shows where they build a car in an hour, but never turns the sound on to hear that 1200 man hours elapsed between start to finish.
30 guys x 40 hours ya know.You are 2 guys x 600 hours. What is that like 15 weeks straight?
Maybe you should list the time on paper so its more clear what he is paying for.

11-11-2012 12:54 PM

mr4speed

Novafreak, don't have any finished pics of this one.................the friend that I did this car for is really nit picking little things that he does not think should be there. We are talking about nonsense stuff that he never paid for any way. The lesson to be learned is never help out a FREIND that does not appreciate it in the first place. I did this one so cheap I am embarresed to say how much I charged to do a full paintjob, were talking skim every panel, block it all out and straighten out all door gaps that were really bad. Oh yeah then wet sand and buff the whole thing and reassemble everything. Tons of time on a pretty big car (lots of square footage). Then on top of it all I hired a friend of mine to help me finish it up just to get it done and gone. Paying this guy out of my pocket too boot. Now this FRIEND is saying he can't sell the car for a BIG profit because of these little things that are not up to his standards. Imagine that???

11-02-2012 08:47 AM

novafreek6872

mr4speed...

GOT ANY NEW PICS OF THIS CAR???

Its been awhile

Andy

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